“My brothers have girlfriends. Somehow,” he said. “I’ve picked up a few things.”
“What could I do for Merrie that was a romantic gesture?”
“What does she like?”
“Christmas,” I said automatically.
“So, dress up as a sexy Santa Claus and surprise her.”
“I don’t know whether she’d go for that.”
“Eh,” Eli said, waving his hand, “could go fifty-fifty either way.”
“Maybe something with less potential for causing her to scream and pepper spray me.”
“Decorate her shop for her?”
“Already done.”
“Decorate her house.”
“She doesn’t have one.” I leaned back in my chair.
“Decorate your house.” Eli waggled his eyebrows.
I grimaced. “I do not want my whole penthouse festooned with Christmas decorations.”
“Sexy Santagram it is, then.”
Merrie didn’t answermy text messages all afternoon. And that meant I didn’t get any work done.
It was dark outside when I finally admitted defeat and closed the email I had been trying to write for the last hour in between trying to avoid thinking about how wet Merrie was when I had stroked her.
Fuck.
I typed a message on my phone as I headed out the front door into the cold winter night.
Matt:Want to go Christmas tree shopping?
Matt:I’m heading over to the Christmas tree stall on Eighth.
Nothing. Just like all the other messages.
Fuck.
Maybe she was mad at me. I couldn’t lose her. I wouldn’t.
“One solitary Christmas tree in your condo is fine, right?” I said to myself. “It’s better than a ton of decorations. You can survive it.”
I would need a big tree, though. My condo was an old warehouse, and it had very high ceilings. That also meant lots of ornaments. I was already regretting texting Merrie that I was getting a tree.
Just back out.
But I needed to do something. Maybe sending her a picture of a nice fluffy tree would let her know that I was serious.
I’m sorry, serious? This is just supposed to be a rebound, not something serious. If she doesn’t want to sleep with you, just move on. There are tons of other women out there.
But I didn’t want just anyone—I wanted Merrie. And Christmas made Merrie happy. Therefore, I was buying a tree. It was the logical solution.
